Jerry O'Brien

After 27 years in store operations and recruiting Jerry O’Brien has taken on the challenge of setting up and running the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Retailing Excellence. Now as Center's Executive Director, O’Brien is eager to promote retail careers to UW-Madison students. He has found that even students majoring in retailing sometimes fail to realize the full potential that retail careers can offer. “What’s always been particularly exciting for me is that the retail industry offers the opportunity to try new things,” O’Brien noted. “I know finance majors who are now directors of human resources and economics majors who now coordinate business liaisons with India. Design majors may get to work with world-class names in the design field. Retail majors may fill jobs they never dreamed of but now love,” he said. “I can’t think of an industry that allows more opportunity to change and grow during your career. Or one that promotes your own entrepreneurship more directly.”